31. Mount Saint Helens (VI)

The farther they went, the more the ground started to crack. At first, it was an endless stretch of coal. Then little veins of red crept up. Magma gurgled deep within. Those veins grew to fissures. You could feel the heat licking at your feet, could hear the sound of huge, heavy currents churning, rumbling down the echoing tunnel… It felt like they were walking down the throat of a giant.

"I think we're getting close," said Avery.

She jerked to a halt. A fierce trembling rattled the ground, sent trails of molten rock tumbling down the walls, the ceiling. Streams of magma leapt, hissing through the cracks. Zane felt it rattling up his feet, through his whole body, felt it in his teeth. He crouched low, steadying himself.

"Earthquake?"

"No," said Avery, wide-eyed. "It woke up… it just took a step."

They looked at each other for a moment. Mists of essence slithered around their ankles.

"I feel it," Avery whispered. "It's there."

"Not on my mini-map."

"Just a little farther. I can feel it breathing—it's there."

"… So," said Zane.

"So," said Avery, scratching her head. "What's the plan?"

He shrugged. "We go in, I'll slash it, you distract it?"

She shrugged back. "Sounds good. I'll cast a field mirage around us. Get us in close."

A haze of essence rose up from their feet, blanketing them. But unlike normal essence, he felt nothing when it touched him, no warmth. The cloud soon hid them. They did leave some shallower patches around the eyes so he could see.

"Right." Avery's disembodied voice came through the cloud. "Let's wreck this thing. Go team!"

He saw a fist come at him. At first he thought she was trying to punch him, then he realized it was a fist bump. She didn't put it down. She seemed to be waiting for him. Reluctantly, he bumped it.

"Say the thing," Avery insisted.

He started walking. The cloud didn't follow. He sighed.

"… Go team."

"Hell yeah!"

Soon the tunnel opened up. He couldn't see much through the fake fog, just what was in front of him. His mini-map led the way, first down a winding stretch, and then out into open air. The ground shook the whole way. Boom… Boom… Boom… It sounded very, very heavy. He imagined it hit hard as hell too.

He smiled.

Geysers of putrid smoke poured up all over the cavern grounds. Thick streams of lava trickled down its walls, pooling on the grounds, seeping through the cracks back into the beating heart of the earth. The whole cavern was riddled with glowing red cracks. More formed each time the monster at its center took a step.

𝔹𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕜𝕖 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟝𝟟

It was the size of a small barn, with scales the color of molten rock. Its deep-red eyes burned like smoldering coals. Looking at it, you got an impression of immense density. Smoke trickled out from its nostrils. Its eyes drifted lazily. It seemed not to notice them. The illusion worked.

Behind it, shimmering with its hoard, a glut of essence stones—a mound of it stacked so high it was halfway to the ceiling. Scattered about it were all kinds of shiny things: trinkets, lockets, goblets, daggers, dented shields, dented helms… He couldn't make out all of it through the fog, but he could tell—there's a lot more gold and silver lurking in the back. What caught his eye, though, was the crowning jewel of the hoard: this red translucent crystal, burning so hot it seemed to warp the air. It was made a weird red glass. A fire burned inside of it, flickering vivid yellow, white, and red…

Somehow that thing called to him. It stirred something hot in his heart…

Later. First, the Drake. He gave it a once-over with Sage Mind.

𝔹𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕜𝕖 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟝𝟟

𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:

𝕄𝕠𝕝𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕠𝕟]

𝕌𝕟𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕒𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕝𝕒𝕧𝕒 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕨.

𝕆𝕓𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕒𝕟 ℍ𝕚𝕕𝕖 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕌𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕠𝕟]

𝕀𝕥𝕤 𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕟 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕓𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕒𝕟, 𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕚𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕝𝕪 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕕𝕖𝕗𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕖 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕥 𝕡𝕙𝕪𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤. 𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕠𝕨-𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖𝕤.

…

"It's Fire-breathing," he told her. "And its skin is pretty much impenetrable."

Are you just guessing, or…?"

"My signature skill," he said. "I can also tell its weaknesses."

"Ooh, do tell."

They lit a braid all along the Drake's body. The weaker it was, the redder it got. Its underbelly was just a pale red. Its joints a little redder. Its eyes even more. But the reddest—

"The inside of its mouth. It's weakest there by far."

"Gotcha," muttered Avery. "So I'll bait it into opening its mouth, and…you try fitting your axe through?"

He nodded.

As though they'd planned it, they dashed off at the same time—in opposite directions. The fog followed Zane, covering him as he ran, but it was moving too fast, unnaturally fast. Anytime now the Drake would catch on—

A roar trembled the chamber. The Drake's head snapped to the mouth of the cavern. Where Avery had been standing a moment ago, another Drake was emerging, swooping out into the open, black tar dribbling from its massive, craggy mouth, smoke billowing from its nostrils. He could see a flush of bright orange down its wide-open mouth. Fire was coming.

The fake Drake—Avery's illusion—roared again, just as loud, a challenge.

It worked. The Brimstone Drake sat up straighter, posturing to match the fake Drake. Zane had his chain at the ready. He only had eyes for its mouth. The Brimstone Drake roared back—

Zane threw. His axe ripped through the air and slashed into the mouth of the Drake, biting into reams and reams of thick muscle, lodging deep in skull bone. The Drake's head jerked back, its roar choked off. But just when they tried to shove his axe on through and finish the job, the Drake's massive jaws clamped down and crushed the axe in place. Then it whipped its head and the axe went flying. Blood spurted out its mouth. Its eyes flicked to Zane. It was furious.

Shit.

There wasn't enough space to get in deep where they wanted—he had to get the mouth wider.

Before the Brimstone Drake could do anything, the other Drake roared again. Somehow even louder, even more piercing, and this time the sound came with a burst of brilliant flame.

Then it started to charge, lumbering, picking up speed fast, dripping gobs of tar everywhere. Its Jaw unhinged wide, going straight for the Brimstone Drake's throat. It came so fast, so furiously, it was almost impossible not to look at it. It felt so real. Zane wasn't even the one being charged, and he almost looked.

Tar spilling from the Brimstone Drake's lips, smoke gurgling from its nostrils. It swerved around, moving to answer with a blast of its own—

This time Zane timed it. He could tell the thing had caught on. It was loading its Molten Breath in its throat. It was trying not to open its mouth until it had to. It knew what Zane wanted to do now. When it opened its mouth to rinse the fake Drake, it probably figured even if Zane tried again the sheer flow of tar pouring out its mouth would shove the Axe right out its mouth.

And it was right—except…

This time Zane threw the axe before it even opened its mouth. He watched the fake Drake's charge, watched the real Drake's body language. And timed it just right. That the moment the boss opened its mouth his Axe lodged clean into the roof of the mouth.

The Drake screeched, bit down. Its molten breath poured out.

But the axe stayed put.

Zane hadn't thrown that axe to kill it. He hadn't thrown that axe to go deep. Zane had thrown it in a very particular orientation, for a very particular purpose. Vertically. He'd thrown it so it'd get stuck just behind the Drake's upper teeth, and when the Drake tried clamping down, all it did was cut itself with the axe's other side.

Blood fountained everywhere. The Drake let out a monstrous cry of pain. It kept trying to close its mouth, it kept hurting itself, the axe was lodged tight. A neat little wedge.

Then Zane fed his other axe down its open throat. It choked. Its hateful red eyes bulged. Its serpent-like neck thrashed here and there, it trembled, it spasmed.

Then it fell over. And died.

𝔹𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕟!

ℂ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕆𝕓𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤: 𝟚/𝟜

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕌𝕡!

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟝𝟙 -> 𝟝𝟚

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕌𝕡!

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕀𝕀 -> 𝕀𝕀𝕀

𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝔾𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕!

𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕪𝕖𝕣 𝕀

𝕋𝕚𝕖𝕣: ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕠𝕟

𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝕕𝕠 𝟛% 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤

He looked over at Avery. Avery looked back at him. They both seemed astounded.

Just like that?

They had surgically targeted its weakness. And then ambushed it. It made sense. Still, though…

That's it?

"Yes!" Avery dashed over to him. She seemed very excited. "Dude, that was awesome! High five!"

"What?" He said. "That was way too easy."

Avery just blinked at him. "Huh?"

"You said the second floor was much harder than this?"

"… yeah?"

"Good," he grunted. "We'll see."

She looked so baffled standing there with her hands still up. He felt a little bad. So he sighed, and high-fived her, and moved to inspect the hoard they just earned.

"Wait, you want it to be harder?" she called.

"…"

"There's something wrong with you, you know that?"

***

The hoard looked just like he'd imagined a dragon's hoard would look, but instead of gold coins, they were glowing white crystals. Normal essence stones burned dimly, but these glowed like pale moons on a dark night. Apparently, they were ten times as strong. The only problem was carrying them—he'd supposed they'd have to leave most of it here and come back for it once this was a safe zone.

Avery was picking through the pile, cooing over random shiny trinkets. When he inspected them, he saw they were mostly useless: cursed amulets, pendants, dented helms, broken daggers.

"I knew it," she said.

"What?"

"I had a good feeling the moment I saw you," she said, grinning. "I knew we'd go well together. I've been in teams before. They can't keep up. You're different."

It felt absurd to think, but they did arguably too well. That was only kind of fun. Two Signed on one team might be too much. That second floor… he'd better find a real challenge down there.

Then she gasped.

"It's a bag of holding!"

𝔹𝕒𝕘 𝕠𝕗 ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 (𝔼)

𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕡𝕠𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕥 𝕕𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟, 𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕠𝕨𝕟𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕒𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕠𝕓𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕤𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕠𝕣 𝕨𝕖𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝔸𝕥 𝔼-𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖, 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕩𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝟝𝟟 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕥 𝕓𝕪 𝟝𝟟 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕥 𝕓𝕪 𝟝𝟟 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕤𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕖.

So a pocket inventory. Maybe they could make out with some of the stuff after all. Not all the stones, but a good chunk. And whatever trinkets here were worth taking.

"These are pretty common drops in D-ranked dungeons," said Avery. "Must've been left behind by one of those adventurers. A lot of them have them. Hey—ever notice something strange? Some of these things—" She pointed at an F-grade rusted steel dagger—"Are way too old. I know for a fact there weren't this many parties stomping around the place before I got here."

Zane knew what she meant. That Cavern of Insight with the sword slashes… there was no way that was done by a human expert. At least… not someone like him. Not something from here.

"You think these are fake?" He said. "Dungeon generated?"

"Seems kind of odd to make them seem so real-seeming though, doesn't it?" Avery chewed on her lip. "Nah. I bet these are real, just not from here. I bet it's like… the system has this giant inventory of all kinds of cool shit, and it just tosses some down when it makes a dungeon. And it includes stuff it got from dungeons too. So it recycles."

She reached into the bag.

"There's stuff in here—"

She yanked something out. A scroll, like something straight out of the collection of an ancient Chinese emperor. Its ends were topped with gold.

𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕎𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕡𝕤 (ℂ)

ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕤: 𝔸𝕥 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝟚 𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕎𝕚𝕟𝕕

𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝: 𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕎𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕡𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕥 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕟'𝕤 𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟 ℂ𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕕𝕤 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.

C-Grade? Two Major Laws as the Prequisites?

"What the fuck?" said Avery. He was thinking the exact same thing.

"Planet Thalen?" Zane blinked. "There's other planets?"

Avery looked at him funny. "Of course. That's old news. This is C-Grade, dude! The Hell's it doing in a dump like this?"

"Don't know," he said. "But neither of us can use it. You know any Wind Laws?"

She shook her head. "I wonder how much the Beacon shop would trade for it, though…"

They decided they'd figure out what to do with it later. He offered to cash it in with the Beacon, then split whatever they got, but she shook her head.

"Nah. I'm one of yours now, remember? Use it for the Faction. Wait…" She slapped her head. "Forgot to request it. Here—"

𝔸𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕃𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕣𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕛𝕠𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕦𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕤 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (𝔼)

𝔸𝕔𝕔𝕖𝕡𝕥? (𝕐/ℕ)

He did.

𝔸𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕃𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕝𝕪 (ℂ𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖)

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟝𝟘

ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤: 𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕖𝕖𝕜𝕖𝕣

𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: 𝕃𝕦𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕤 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

"Alright!" She grinned her crooked grin. "Now you're stuck with me." She went back to scavenging.

He turned his sights to the treasure on the top of the stack, the treasure that'd caught his attention the instant he set foot in the room. That red translucent crystal with the fire burning deep within… up close, he could see those distortions around it weren't heat waves. They looked like his fires.

Those were distortions of Law.